2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 22 - Education
School Districts
Article 35 - Concurrent Enrollment Programs Act
§ 22-35-107. Concurrent enrollment advisory board - created - membership - duties - reports - repeal

(1) There is hereby created within the department the concurrent enrollment advisory board. The board shall consist of members appointed as provided in this section and shall have the powers and duties specified in this section. The board shall exercise its powers and perform its duties and functions under the department, the commissioner of education, and the state board as if the same were transferred to the department by a type 2 transfer as defined in the "Administrative Organization Act of 1968", article 1 of title 24, C.R.S.

(2) The board shall consist of the following fourteen members:

(a) Three representatives from the state system of elementary and secondary education appointed by the commissioner of education, including at least one member who represents a rural public school or school district and at least one member who represents a school district where a relatively low percentage of recent high school graduates have enrolled in institutions of higher education;

(b) Five representatives from the state systems of higher education appointed by the executive director of the department of higher education, including two members who represent the Colorado community college system, one member who represents a public, four-year institution of higher education, one member who represents a local district college, and one member who represents an area technical college;

(c) Three representatives appointed by the governor, including at least one member who has experience in postsecondary student counseling, student admissions, and financial aid and at least one member who has experience in public budgeting and finance;

(d) The director of accreditation and regional services within the department or his or her designee; and

(e) Two representatives of postsecondary career and technical education programs, one of whom is the director of career and technical education within the state system of community and technical colleges and one of whom represents the state system of elementary and secondary education and is appointed by the state board for community colleges and occupational education.

(3) Each appointing authority shall make its initial appointments no later than October 1, 2009. Each member of the board shall serve at the pleasure of the member's appointing authority for a term of three years. The appropriate appointing authority shall fill any vacancies arising during a member's term on the board.

(4) The commissioner of education shall call the first meeting of the board to be held no later than November 15, 2009. At its first meeting, and annually thereafter, the board shall select from among its members a person to serve as chair of the board. The board shall meet upon call of the chair as often as necessary to accomplish its duties as specified in this section.

(5) The board members shall serve without compensation and without reimbursement for expenses. Upon request of the board chair, the department, to the extent possible within existing resources, shall provide meeting space, equipment, and staff services as may be necessary for the board to carry out its duties under this section.

(6) The board shall have the following duties:

(a) Establishing guidelines for the administration of the ASCENT program pursuant to section 22-35-108 (4);

(b) Advising and assisting local education providers and institutions of higher education in preparing cooperative agreements;

(c) Making recommendations as necessary to the general assembly, the state board, and the commission concerning the improvement or updating of state policies relating to concurrent enrollment programs, including but not limited to recommendations of policies that will allow every local education provider in the state to have adequate resources to enter into at least one cooperative agreement and recommendations of a funding allocation model, to be approved by the state board on or before July 1, 2013, in the event that the number of qualified students identified by local education providers exceeds available appropriations pursuant to section 22-35-108 (2);

(d) On or before December 1, 2010, considering and making recommendations to the state board and the education committees of the house of representatives and senate, or any successor committees, regarding the feasibility of a waiver process whereby a qualified student could apply to the department for a waiver of certain provisions of section 22-35-108, which waiver would allow the student to be designated by the department as an ASCENT program participant in the second year following the year in which he or she was enrolled in the twelfth grade of a local education provider so long as he or she:

(I) Was so designated in the year directly following the year in which he or she was enrolled in the twelfth grade of a local education provider;

(II) Requires fifteen or fewer credit hours of postsecondary course work to achieve a postsecondary credential; and

(III) Is eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch pursuant to the federal "Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act", 42 U.S.C. sec. 1751 et seq.;

(e) Submitting to the state board for its approval or disapproval recommendations made pursuant to paragraphs (c) and (d) of this subsection (6);

(f) Collaborating with persons from the department of education, the department of labor and employment, the community college system, the local district junior colleges, area technical colleges, and the Colorado work force development council created in section 24-46.3-101, C.R.S., to create a set of standard recommendations to advise and assist local education providers in creating cooperative agreements to include course work related to apprenticeship programs and internship programs as options within a local education provider's concurrent enrollment program. The board shall complete the standard recommendations and make them available to local education providers by January 1, 2016.

(7) On or before December 1, 2010, and on or before December 1 each year thereafter, the board shall prepare a report and submit it to the state board and the commission. The report, at a minimum, shall include:

(a) Any guidelines that the board has established pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection (6) of this section; and

(b) Any recommendations that the board makes pursuant to paragraph (c) of subsection (6) of this section.

(8) (a) This section is repealed, effective July 1, 2019.

(b) Prior to said repeal, the board shall be reviewed as provided in section 2-3-1203, C.R.S.